PROJECT VALUE - A Guide To Knowing What Someone is Worth

I was wondering if the good people of the republic would help develop a guide for others here as to what constitutes value combined with concrete examples. As the trade deadline approaches and Toronto continues to be active it might aid in the debate when considering if a player is worth it. I'll lift the examples from here and store them separately or submit them to one of the mods if they are interested. That way this can still be used as a discussion thread.

The appeal of the expiring contract is that it allows teams desperate to shed cap space, or a potentially bloated contract, to do so. These have value for the team holding the expiring deal because it makes them active targets for teams on both ends of the spectrum. Losing/rebuilding teams like them because it allows them to shed a bad or even just a bloated deal. With tax considerations teams in the upper echelon look to expiring deals to allow them to retool. Teams also factor this in when considering signing people in the first place. For instance if a significant free agent pool and draft class was accumulating for the 2015 off season, It might make sense to sign someone for above market value to a two year deal. Then during the season in the expiring year that contract can be used to either trade for picks, or just plain and simple let it come off the books."

please treat this in the same vein as a wiki if there is stuff you wish to add or things I have missed with respect to my own post you can quote it and add your change in bold.

I love the idea of this thread, but sadly, determining value is a very subjective thing. I did try to determine value twice. Once with Amir Johnson which can be found Here Basically, I just compared his stats to the stats of players playing his position and compared what he made versus what they made. I also did one for bargnani but it's disappeared...

In terms of what motivates teams to make trades, or how they are justified after the fact

Win now mode... aka trade picks and young players for talented and proven players aka the Garnett era Celtics, or the Jermaine O'neal trade for the raps.

Blow it up... aka trade everyone you have that has any value for draft picks and young players aka Minnesota trade where they shipped out garnett.

Chasing talent... Aka give up whatever you have to in order to get that "elite/franchise player" aka NYK going after Melo, Raps recent acquistion of Gay. Is very similar to win now mode as you usually have to give up young talent and/or picks.

Lose the player in FA: AKA trade a player who is about to become a free agent because you are worried the player won't resign. AKA nuggets trade of Melo, Jazz trading deron williams, & dwightgate

FIT... Aka a (cryptic) way to justify pretty much any other trade, aka a nice way of saying that you didn't want the player any more, but don't want to be mean. AKA the raptors are going to trade Bargnani because the franchise is going in a "new" direction and although he's a "big talent" he just doesn't "fit" with the "direction" of the team.

EDIT: It's pretty easy to identify the motivations for trades, what is almost impossible to determine is how an organizations motivation impact how they subjectively value a player.

"We only have one rule on this team. What is that rule? E.L.E. That's right's, E.L.E, and what does E.L.E. stand for? EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY. Right there up on the wall, because this isn't just a basketball team, this is a lifestyle. ~ Jackie Moon

Example. Jose Calderon 10 million dollar expiring deal used to facilitate trade for Rudy Gay
I think Detroit was more interested in Jose's services than in his expiring contract.

In this case it worked out perfectly for Detroit. They were able to shed salary and acquire a player they've been interested in for a long time. It will not be surprising if Jose re-signs there.

In today's salary cap era, value of a trade is not always determined by a players talent. The recent Boozer-Bargnani rumour is the best example. Apparently Chicago initiated talks even though they had the better talent. On hearing of such a rumour one would think that Toronto is the more interested team as Boozer would be an upgrade over Andrea.